Assistant Director - Student Experience - London

Salary: £55,000 per annum

London weighting: £4,000 per annum 

Employment type: Permanent Full-Time

Hours per week: 37

Reporting into: Director of Campuses

Department: Student Experience

Click here to read the full job description and view our excellent benefits here

This role will be based full time from our London Campus  locations (Ealing, Holborn and Tower Hill).  It is a fully on-site role.

We are an aspirational and multi-award-winning university, delivering rapid growth with ambitious plans to disrupt the HE sector through our passion for innovation and digital education. Our vision is to become the first-choice university for career-focused lifelong learners worldwide, ensuring that everyone, everywhere can access higher education.

There has never been a more exciting time to join Arden University, as we expand into new disciplines, forge worldwide partnerships, and expand our locations.

The Student Experience team is dedicated to supporting and empowering students throughout their journey at Arden. They provide wellbeing support, academic guidance, career development, and engagement initiatives, ensuring every student feels connected and equipped for success. Our focus on innovation and continuous improvement helps create an inclusive and enriching learning environment.

We’re looking for an inspiring and proactive leader to take on the role of Assistant Director, overseeing the day-to-day operations of our London campuses and ensuring our academic and Student Hub services are high-quality, compliant, and student-focused.

You will be a key figure in driving an outstanding student experience—championing service innovation, fostering cross-functional collaboration, and ensuring our students and staff feel engaged, supported, and heard.

This is a hands-on leadership role. Your active involvement in daily campus operations and student support will not only ensure smooth delivery but will also give you the insight and context to shape wider strategy. You’ll use what you learn on the ground to inform service improvements, future planning, and student engagement initiatives that are responsive to real needs.

Reporting to the Director of Campuses and working closely with the Academic Directors , you’ll play a visible and vital role in shaping a vibrant, inclusive campus environment. You will ensure that frontline experiences and operational realities are reflected in strategic decision-making—aligning services with institutional priorities and driving continuous improvement.

Please note: occasional evening and weekend work may be required during peak periods.

We’re looking for a dynamic, student-focused leader who thrives in a fast-paced, collaborative environment and is committed to delivering a first-class student experience. You’ll bring a strong blend of operational know-how and strategic thinking, using your day-to-day engagement with campus life to shape and improve services that truly meet student needs.

You’ll be hands-on in your approach—comfortable managing daily campus operations while also taking a big-picture view to inform long-term improvements. You’ll be a visible leader, driving innovation and ensuring our services are scalable, efficient, and aligned with Arden’s ambitions for growth and inclusivity.

Essential Requirements:

• Proven experience managing or leading student services or campus operations within higher education.
• Demonstrable ability to lead and inspire cross-functional teams to deliver impactful and efficient services.
• Excellent organisational and problem-solving skills, with a focus on continuous improvement and innovation.
• Strong track record of cross-departmental collaboration, particularly with academic and professional services teams.
• Deep understanding of the student lifecycle, especially within blended or campus-based delivery models.
• Experience of reviewing and scaling operational processes to support institutional growth.
• Skilled in using data and insight to inform decision-making and enhance the student journey.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with a confident, inclusive leadership style.

You’ll be an experienced higher education professional who’s not only ambitious and resilient but also passionate about improving outcomes for students. Your on-the-ground insight will shape strategy and drive meaningful, student-centred change across the campus.

At Arden, you will become a part of a passionate and dedicated team who are committed to removing unnecessary barriers to learning and making education more accessible. Our people work hard to ensure our students journeys are the best they can possibly be, as such we want to reward our people with fantastic benefits. Employees benefit from:

• 30 days holiday + bank holidays on-top, and even a Christmas closure!
• A generous Aviva pension plan, company contributions starting from 7%
• SimplyHealth plan option
• Private Medical Insurance 
• Access to Perkbox benefits
• Study any Arden course for free, with a discount for all family and friends
• Plus, other  excellent benefits
• Our ‘Golden Ticket’ which allows you to gift anyone in your life a free Arden education
  

Stand out, Progressive, Accessible, Resourceful, Kindness,  reflect who we are as an institution, a team and as individuals. If they also reflect you and you are excited by the chance to be the driving, creative force within a growing business, we want to hear from you.

There has never been a more exciting time to join Arden University, as we expand into new disciplines and locations.

Closing Date: Sunday 15th June

We reserve the right to close this vacancy before the specified closing date should we receive sufficient applications or in order to respond to business needs. In order to avoid missing an opportunity to apply please submit your application as early as possible.

If you are a current Arden student or have an upcoming course with us, you are not eligible to apply for Student Experience roles due to a conflict of interest related to system access.

Arden University is proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. This means that if you have a disability, as defined by the Disability Equality Act 2010, you may be guaranteed an interview if you meet the essential criteria for the role.

If you wish to be considered under this scheme, you can indicate via the application form below. By doing so, you are also consenting for this information to be shared with the hiring team. For more details on what qualifies as a disability under the Disability Equality Act 2010, please refer to  the guidance here .

As an Equal Opportunity Employer we celebrate diversity and are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace. Therefore, we make sure that our recruitment and selection processes never discriminate based upon people's age, disability, gender, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or other personal circumstances, and actively welcome applications from all groups.

Please be aware that some roles may not meet the points requirement for a sponsored Skilled Worker visa under the points-based immigration system. However, we welcome applications from candidates who do not currently have the right to work in the UK but may be eligible for a visa through an alternative route.